title: Broadband linearized silicon modulator.
abstract: A scheme to achieve a wideband linearized silicon Mach-Zehnder (MZ) modulator is proposed. The modulator consists of a single MZ interferometer with identical reverse-biased silicon diode phase shifters in both arms, driven in a push-pull configuration. It is shown that the 3rd order nonlinearity of the modulator can be eliminated by canceling the nonlinearities from the silicon phase shifters and the MZ transfer function against each other. The 2nd order nonlinearity is simultaneously eliminated by differential detection or operation away from the quadrature point. As a result, the linearity of the proposed silicon modulator greatly exceeds the linearity of a conventional MZ modulator with ideal, linear (e.g. LiNbO3) phase shifters. The simplicity and large optical and RF bandwidth of the proposed modulator make it attractive for analog photonic applications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. anatolykhilo@gmail.com
authors.forename: Anatol
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Khilo
authors.forename: Cheryl M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Sorace
authors.forename: Franz X
authors.initials: FX
authors.lastname: Kärtner
mesh_terms: D017076:Computer-Aided Design; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D016014:Linear Models; D012031:Refractometry / Q000295:instrumentation*; D012666:Semiconductors; D013685:Telecommunications / Q000295:instrumentation*